MTG Keyword Rules — Comprehensive Rules Glossary

Certain spells and abilities instruct a permanent to connive. To do so, that permanent’s controller draws a card, then discards a card. If a nonland card is discarded this way, that player puts a +1/+1 counter on the conniving permanent.

If a permanent is no longer on the battlefield as an effect instructs it to connive, its last known information is used to determine which object connived and who controlled it.

If multiple permanents are instructed to connive at the same time, the first player in APNAP order who controls (or, in the case of a permanent no longer on the battlefield, last controlled; see rule 701.50b) one or more of those permanents chooses one of them and it connives. Then this process is repeated for each remaining instruction to connive.

Connive N is a variant of connive. To have a permanent connive N, the permanent’s controller draws N cards, discards N cards, then puts a number of +1/+1 counters on the permanent equal to the number of nonland cards discarded this way.

If a permanent would connive 0, no connive event occurs. Abilities that trigger whenever a permanent connives won’t trigger.

A permanent “connives” after the process described in either rule 701.50a or 701.50d is complete, even if some or all of those actions were impossible.